Raw Wine is an international two-day wine fair that takes place in the cities of LA, London, Berlin and New York. It was founded by Deborah Lambert and Isabelle Legeron MW, France’s only female master of wine, and provides an opportunity for growers, makers and buyers to get together. Raw Wine is also a celebration of the best organic, biodynamic and natural wines from around the world, produced with the lowest intervention possible. It brings to light, for a new audience, the enduring traditions of wine making, and pushes back against increasing industrialisation, additive use and the shortcuts that come with larger volumes.

London-based studio and workshop The Counter Press, working in collaboration with brand consultant Dan Rowe, created a new visual identity for Raw Wine that captures the character and nuance of wine, the individuality of those that make up the artisan community, expresses a connection with natural low intervention wine production, and intends to engage a new audience. This is achieved in the idiosyncrasies of wood type and the extensive use of letterpress, alongside a bespoke logotype, modern iconography and unbleached substrates. These link business cards, catalogues, signage, glassware, tote bags, posters and soon to launch website.

Rattis Books is a new London-based independent publisher that celebrates the convergence of traditional and modern print processes and has a firm belief that the book is an art object. To help convey this, the publisher worked with design studio, private press and typography workshop The Counter Press to create their brand identity, and the design for their first book Tiro, a collection of football writings.

Taking their cues from the name, Latin for raft or ship, and the publisher’s processes and beliefs, The Counter Press created a simple but neat logo and logotype combination, printed this across triplex business cards and weighty bookmarks with a deep impression, and used hand-inked and letterpress elements in their design of Tiro.

The Counter Press is a letterpress studio and workshop located in an old chocolate factory in the East End of London. They work exclusively with hand set wood and hot metal type on antique presses to create contemporary typographic design, artwork and limited edition prints. While taking on small outside projects, founders David Marshall and Elizabeth Ellis are keen to stress they are not a commercial printer but full-time designers with a passion for traditional moveable type, and the craft and beauty of letterpress.

After three years of business The Counter Press recently found the time to build on their visual identity with a new set of business cards. While a limited canvas, these manage to bring together and convey some of the studio’s typographic and print expertise, and draw contemporary design sensibilities from traditional processes.

Founder & Editor Richard Baird Richard is a British freelance designer and writer who specialises in brand identities and packaging. He's written for Brand New, Design Week and The Dieline, featured in Computer Arts magazine and also runs the resources LogoArchive & Design Survival.